Jean ValJean’s survey of US military in Iraq

As I was standing in line to go see the new Rocky movie (you read correctly), Ryan and Rudy caught up with me.

They asked me to take part in a survey.

So I did.

Together for the next four hours we stayed in this main concourse area of Emerald City and asked soldiers as they came by five questions:

1. What do your parents do for a living?2. How old they were?3. What type of work would they be doing back home if not here?4. Could they go to school without the military’s help?5. Had they personally seen a friend of theirs killed in Iraq?

Three hundred answered-we were finally asked to cease what we were doing-and Ryan had his camera taken.

Out of the three hundred:

The average age was nineteen-not old enough to drink back home-barely old enough to vote-people would say they were crazy if they wanted to get married-and statistics support if not here they would be living with mom and dad.

Only four of these three hundred-not four percent-four-had parents that wereprofessionals.

Oddly enough, those four were accountants.

Six other kids parents owned small companies-like plumbers, locksmiths, etc.

None of these kids came from executives, politicians, doctors, lawyers, and on and on.

Over eighty percent felt that if not in Iraq they would be unemployed-the rest believed that the best they could do was Burger King.

Less than five percent believed they would be or could be in college if they hadn’t joined to fight the “evil doers”.

100% OF THESE CHILDREN HAD A FRIEND THEY SAW DIE WITH THEIR OWN EYES WHILE HERE IN IRAQ!